The Bar runs out of Paper

England 58 all out
v New Zealand 427-8 declared
England 132-3
close on Day Four

1st Test, played at Eden Park Auckland

Sunday 25 March 2018

25 New Zealand Beer Ticks

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Groundhog Day starring Deja Vu & S I A Before. Last innings. Four sessions (ish). Big numbers in front of you.

There just seems no application. Wafts. Cross bats. Drives away from your body. OK. OK. OK. A day to go. We've done it before. We'll do it again. Today please. Cook has whacked one down the leg side to the keeper. Root has got the fifty. And, it's not a pretty fifty. But, it's a necessary fifty. Then got out. Their day started at 1:30pm. (Mine earlier natch, as that was when the Brewery opened). It's basically gone 9:30pm when Root is out. He is now in danger of “wasting his talent”. Good players get out to the last ball of the fourth day in a rearguard action. Shit happens. But, less shit happens to great players.

I'll Blog Stoneman exactly as I called it in real time. He can just fuck off now.

Wagner peppered him with the short stuff & stares. He put men out. I'd like to say Stoneman took him on. No. He just flapped one to Boult, who took an excellent catch. Brainless.

First up. Complete the card at Urbanaut Brewing. They brewed a special for March Fest in Nelson. Which had to be held back until today “for contractual obligations”.

Urbanaut Brewing, Bogota Espresso Scotch Ale at 6.5%
I get it. Coffee in beer is “a thing”. Goes well with the malty, chocolate, coconut, liquorice things going on in stouts & porters. I get it, mixing styles is “a thing”. Dry hopped sours. White stouts. But, no. That one was just all coffee. No idea what else was going on. As it was all coffee. All.

Urbanaut Brewing, Shimokita India Pale Lager at 5.7%
Urbanaut Brewing, Brixton Pale Ale at 4.4%

But, hear this, Espresso Scotch aside. I had six others at Urbanaut. All. All. All BELTERS. Not a bad word to say about them. The standout can go to the 7.2% Williamsburg IPA.

When this game ends, I firmly believe I’ll Blog positively about Eden Park, and in ground beer. They've got a range. Not just one. That'll get you Gold Stars right there. But, that positive, summing up Blog will have to wait. Today I'll log it as;

Black Dog, Chomp NZ Pale Ale at 4.7%
Monteith's Brewing Co, Pointers Pale Ale at 4.2%

And, I'll mention the “Bar Colour”. Rather than the beer. Poor. Verging on don't know what they're doing. I could find three bars in the cavernous Eden Park footprint which were serving “near craft”. One would have been fucking easy to miss though. As on Day 3 & Day 4 it was shut. And on Day 2, I only found it because some Employee Of The Month had the gumption to hang a handwritten, biro & cardboard “Craft Beer” sign on the side. He comes out of this match with more credit than Stoneman.

Another bar on the walkway level of the concourse was so poorly designed & positioned it had to impromptu close whenever it rained. Which was fucking often. Despite no rain on Day 4, it was desolate abandoned.

At least they had the common sense to plough on with the third bar. On the No. 2 Oval. On my first visit, I caught the fella telling another punter “we don't know what these beers are, they've just been dumped on us by the organisers”. I had to give a brief description of the four beers on offer to my erstwhile Ball Supping Brother. On my second visit, there was a bit of a queue. They had run out of, not beer, not plastic glasses, not even loose change. They had run out of rolls of paper for the credit card machine. FFS. Not good.

632/1314